Northern-Sòng cí-master, originally named Sānbiàn 三變, later Yǒng 永, zì Qíqīng 耆卿, of Chóngān 崇安 in Jiànzhōu 建州 (modern Fújiàn). Conventional birth date ca. 984 (modern reconstructions vary 984–987); died ca. 1053. Member of the literary “Three Liǔ” 三柳 of his generation with his brothers Sānfù 三復 and Sānjiē 三接. Jìnshì of Jǐngyòu 1 / 1034 — by tradition he failed several times under his original name 三變 and was finally placed only after changing his given name; the long unsuccessful years in the entertainment quarters of Biànjīng 汴京 (Kāifēng) and the southern lake-cities made him the canonical poet of qīnglóu 青樓 (courtesan-quarter) life. Reached the modest post of Túntián yuánwài láng 屯田員外郎 (Vice-director of Land-Reclamation Bureau), whence his sobriquet Liǔ Túntián 柳屯田. Often called Liǔ Qī 柳七 from his seventh-son ranking. His Yuèzhāng jí 樂章集 KR4j0003 is the first great Northern-Sòng cí-collection in the màncí 慢詞 (“long-tune”) form, decisively expanding the cí beyond the xiǎolìng of Yàn Shū 晏殊 and Zhāng Xiān 張先 in length, prosody, and topical range (urban-mercantile and entertainment-quarter scenes). Yè Mèngdé 葉夢得’s Bìshǔ lùhuà 避暑錄話 records that the entertainment-bureau (Jiàofāng 教坊) musicians of Biànjīng would secure new tunes only after asking Liǔ for the cí-words; and a Western Xià defector told Yè in Dāntú that “wherever there is well-water for drinking, people sing Liǔ’s cí” 凡有井水飲處即能歌柳詞. Zhāng Duānyì 張端義’s Guì’ěr jí 貴耳集 similarly records Xiàng Píngzhāi 項平齋’s dictum that “for shī one should study Dù, for cí one should study Liǔ — both speak plainly.” Liǔ’s reputation as a cí-master was always paired with social disapproval (mocked in the Sòng shǐ and by Yàn Shū) for his demotic register and his close association with courtesan culture. Biographical material in Sòng shǐ (only briefly); the principal modern study is Xuē Ruìshēng 薛瑞生, Liǔ Yǒng cí jiàozhù 柳永詞校注 (Zhōnghuá shūjú, 2002). No precise birth or death year is recorded in the standard histories; CBDB and the modern Quán Sòng cí place him conventionally 984–1053.